Master of Kaidan
Chapter 298: If We Don’t Fight, We Can’t Survive

Chapter 298: Chapter 298: If We Don’t Fight, We Can’t Survive

Although she instinctively made a sarcastic remark, Rinko quickly regained her consciousness, and her expression changed several times as she looked at the Masked Rider in front of her, clad in armor styled like a ukiyo-e painting, before she mumbled,

"I feel like... I’m dead?"

"Dead, but not completely dead," a voice that sounded as if it were coming through a metal bucket emanated from the Masked Rider’s mask. He pulled out a Transformation Device and said,

"I am a Masked Rider from Otherworld. My time to act in your world is limited..."

"So, you want me to become your mortal form? Since when do Masked Riders use Ultraman settings?" Rinko’s expression was very odd, but the Masked Rider simply shook his head and tossed her a belt and a card box without another word,

"Fight! You can’t survive without fighting!"

"Huh?" Rinko instinctively caught the card box thrown at her, totally bewildered. How did things suddenly kick off? And you simply throw the belt...

Before Rinko could finish her sentence, everything before her eyes blurred, and the world returned to how it was previously—the huge spider was right in front of her, and she could even see every single bristle on the spider’s menacing mandibles.

"Ugh—"

Instinctively, Rinko stepped back, but as she moved, the world that seemed completely frozen also showed signs of "collapsing."

Sounds of shattering echoed around her ears, and the huge spider, as if sealed in amber, began to tremble.

Though she had no evidence, Rinko instinctively understood that in just a few more tens... no, just a few more seconds, the spider Kaidan would break free from this strange state.

And mere seconds weren’t enough for her to escape this narrow alley!

"Masked Rider! Where are you! Come save me!" The somewhat helpless girl couldn’t see the Evil Rider, but then she noticed she was actually holding a Transformation Device and card box in her hands!

"I’m going all out!" At this moment, Rinko had no time to think about what would happen after Transforming; she only knew if she didn’t fight, she would likely die here!

If so, she would leave what happened next to her future self!

In just a few short seconds, Rinko adjusted her mindset. She placed the Transformation Device in front of her and as a special textured strap popped out of the Transformation Device, fastening itself with a somewhat plasticky feel around her waist.

"Transforming moment~~"

"Are you ready?"

Filled with a juvenile charm, the sound from the Transformation Device called out, and Rinko opened the card box, sighed at the sight of only one picture card among all blank ones.

"If you’re talking about being ready, of course, I’m not."

Rinko pulled the only card from the box and, looking at the girl standing in a snowy landscape on it, mimicked what she had seen on the street earlier and inserted it into the device.

"But with the situation as it is, who has time to prepare!"

While complaining, Rinko unwittingly smiled.

She pressed down on the mechanisms on either side of the Transformation Device and whispered—

"This is Hoshino Minami, my first time ever, as a Masked Rider, transforming!"

Click!

The Transformation Device suddenly snapped shut, strips of light burst forth from the now glowing indicators, winding around Rinko, while the central transparent component that displayed a snowflake-like crystal from the back of the card, emitted a diffuse icy blue light, and hexagonal ice-crystal decorations spread across the plain armor, forming a layer of crystal blue structure.

"Thousands of forms~~"

"Ice Seal Thousand Miles!!"

"Masked Rider—"

"Demon Rider!"

"Dead country already!" Glancing at her reflection dressed up on the roadside glass, Rinko let out an exclamation of astonishment.

Although, if various additional values were discarded, this outfit seemed somewhat reminiscent of candied haws, considering the jarringly aesthetic style of the Masked Rider series, Rinko thought it might not be unacceptable.

Or rather...

"This outfit is actually pretty cool!"

"Click!"

With a sound as crisp as a beer bottle smashing on concrete from a height of several meters, Rinko finally snapped out of the excitement of her first transformation. However, the giant spider gave her no chance to test the suit’s performance, as it unnaturally spat out a stream of webbing from its mouth.

"Hey, wait a minute, I haven’t even..."

While clumsily dodging the webbing, Rinko read the instructions popping up in her visor, but before she could convert the complicated manual into understandable controls, she was already completely wrapped up like a rice dumpling.

"Could it be that I, Hoshino Minami, will die on the first day, no, during the first transformation into Masked Rider? Mr. Evil Rider, please come and save the day!"

Though Hoshino Minami was verbally calling for help, she showed no signs of stopping her efforts. She twisted her body like a maggot, trying to break free from the webs stuck on her armor, while her eyes constantly scanned the lines of text, trying to find a way out of this predicament.

"Yes, that’s right, trust in your own power!"

Hoshino Minami wasn’t sure if it was a hallucination or an actual voice guiding her, but she completely ignored that. As the spider’s mouthparts touched her chest, she finally found the control command in the flowing subtitles.

Snap!

Leveraging a small gap created by twisting her body, which was not enough to escape the webbing but sufficient to press the button on her transformation device.

The originally red structure emitted an icy blue glow. The spider’s webbing, which had restricted her to worm-like movements on the ground, suddenly released her as if defying gravity, and she stood up. The air turned abruptly cold, and snowflakes began to condense in the air.

"Crack crack..."

A faint cracking sound was heard, as the sticky and tough webbing turned brittle in the low temperatures.

"Frost Wind Cold Night~~"

"Cold to the Bone~~"

During these incredibly cheesy sound effects, Rinko used her arms to forcefully break free from the webbing, while the air’s ice crystals, as if propelled by some power, converged into a red katana in her hands, which was out of character for ice crystals.

Despite being formed from ice crystals, they reflected a blood-like scarlet. Yet, waves of chill emanated from Rinko’s armor, spreading out to the surroundings and freezing the spider attempting to escape in place.

"Attack Command!"

"Snow over Plum Blossoms!"

Despite the vigorous sound effects, Rinko had no training in swordsmanship. She could only, amidst the bombastic sound effects and like a complete novice, hold the sword with both hands and clumsily walk up to the frozen spider before forcefully slashing down!

Crack!

It wasn’t a display of masterful swordsmanship that split the spider in two instantly, but instead, at the moment of contact, the entire spider shattered into countless ice blocks. The card holder fixed on her arm twinkled, and watching the flickering characters, Rinko lifted her left hand towards the spider’s corpse.

From the card holder, streams of light poured out, entwining the spider’s body. As the light flared up, Rinko’s holder gained one more card.